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Human rights organisation proposes sex trade licence
Denmark's civil society is divided over the proposal to legalise prostitution.
di Staff
The institute has petitioned parliament to consider turning the proposal into law. It says the law would protect sex workers and prevent illegal smuggling of women and girls into the country who are forced into the practice.
The proposal was put forth following recent comments by police to the Politiken newspaper about the difficulties in combating human smuggling, and MP’s will take up the issue upon their return from the summer hiatus. Police say that the resulting law would make it easier to identify the women who are being forced into the trade.
But the institute’s deputy director, Birgitte Kofod Olsen, said she would not support a full ban on prostitution.
“You have to respect that for many prostitutes it is their own decision to work in the trade, and that they feel they can handle it,” she told Politiken. “In addition, many studies show that prostitutes in general are not any better or worse off than other unskilled labourers.”
But one anonymous member of sex worker organisation Sexarbejdernes Interesseorganisation said the proposed law might not be welcomed by her group.
“I think many in the business won’t seek a licence because they don’t want to reveal their identity, or maybe they’d consider such a licence degrading,” she said.
